The 250/250 Diet: Created By a Cardiologist, Recommended By a Nurse

Posted Nov 25 2013 12:00am

The 250/250 health plan isn’t
the latest fad diet. Its focus is on helping people develop healthy eating habits
and exercise routines rather than encouraging unnatural, extreme dieting and
exercise binges. The results won’t necessarily deliver in the first week or
month, but the changes in fitness and weight are longer-lasting than your
average fad diet. They’re not just
short-term changes designed to make your body drop weight unnaturally fast – they’re
positive changes for life.

By cutting 250 calories out of your diet and increasing your
physical activity to burn 250 calories per day, you can lose one pound of fat
per week. The math: you’ll have a daily calorie deficient of 500 calories -
which in one week adds up to 3,500 calories.
One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories.

The 250/250 health plan has many benefits. Increasing your
exercise:

Decreases chances of cardiovascular disease

Improves moo

Boosts energy

Aids weight loss

Improves sleeping patterns

Altering your daily calorie intake helps decrease:

High blood pressure

Chances of developing type 2 diabetes

Chance of stroke

High cholesterol

Why is it a safe
eating and exercise plan?

Created by cardiologist Dr.Nanette Wenger, many respected cardiologists support the eating and
exercise plan advocated by the 250/250 diet. Cardiologists often recommend it
for their patients, as it keeps in line with healthy eating and exercise
recommendations from the American Heart Association.

The plan encourages
healthy eating rather than crash dieting.
Crash dieting may be an initially effective way to lose weight, but many
people find themselves with low energy levels because they cut far too many
calories. They also may find themselves developing certain nutritional
deficiency symptoms, as extreme diets often encourage cutting out whole food
groups. Your body needs a balanced diet with lots of variety - crash dieting restricts
too many food groups, leading to unbearable cravings.

Crash dieting can also cause heart problems. For example,
the Atkins diet causes people’s cholesterol levels to rise dramatically, which
cardiovascular institutes (like the Florida Cardiovascular Institute, which specializes in treating heart failure and heart
attacks) find to be one of the main reasons that their patients develop
cardiovascular problems.

Recommended exercises

For exercise, choose an activity that you like doing and
that you can access easily. You’ll need
some sort of physical activity on a daily basis, and complicated routines that
require lots of equipment usually aren’t the best way to get started. Here are
some easy exercises to help you burn off an extra 250 calories every day:

Walking:
A great low-impact activity that you can do anywhere to help you burn calories.
Walking for an hour at an average pace of 3.5 miles per hour can burn between
300-600 calories (depending on your weight). Try to incorporate this hour into
your daily routine - why not walk to work, take a walk on your lunch break, or
take an evening stroll after dinner? All you need is a safe footpath and a pair
of comfy shoes.

Cycling:
Another great low-impact physical activity that’s kind to your joints as well
as your waistline. You can burn 300-400 calories
when cycling at a moderate pace of 5.5miles per hour (the exact number of calories
you’ll burn depends on your body weight). Like with walking, try incorporating
cycling into your routine. (And you don’t need a real bike to cycle - gym
stationary bikes are just as effective.)

Swimming:
This low-impact physical activity slims and tones all muscle groups. Swimming
for 30 minutes at a casual pace will burn – depending on your weight – between
200 and 400 calories per hour.

Another key to keep an exercise routine going is to keep it
varied and interesting. Walking, swimming and cycling are just a few examples –
find one (or several!) that suit your schedule and interests. If you have an
exercise routine that you actually like, it’s far more likely that you’ll be
able to keep it up.

Recommended ways to
cut down on 250 calories a day

These are ten of the most common and effective small changes
you can make. Don’t worry - you can still eat carbs, have an
occasional drink, and enjoy your morning coffee.

Snacking
on energy bars? Although these can seem
like a healthy alternative, they weigh in at about 250 calories per bar. Try
string cheese as a satisfying alternative – it’s easy, convenient, and only around
60 calories.

Time to
start sharing your dessert. Sharing
(depending on portion size and type) can help cut hundreds of calories.

Mashed
potatoes. My grandma’s special recipe includes butter, cream cheese, a
little olive oil and a dash of full-fat cream.
Replace these calorie-packed ingredients with Greek yogurt and a little butter. The yogurt gives the
mash a tasty tang, and you can cut up to 400 calories (per serving) in the
process.

Soup can
be a low-cal and nutritious meal. Just be wary of cream-packed soups like
clam chowder (around 480 calories per serving). Why not try some minestrone
soup instead? Since it’s made from a broth base instead of dairy, it only has
around 180 calories per serving. Bonus: it’s
packed full of vegetables!

Cut your
cereal. There’s a lot of controversy
at the moment surrounding the actual health benefits of breakfast cereal. Reported to be full of sugar, they may not be
the healthiest breakfast choice in the morning. However, if you can’t function
without your morning cereal, try cutting your cereal serving by one-third.
Calories saved: 100.

Avid
cinema fan? One of my favorite treats at the movies is the popcorn. Who
wouldn’t love it? First, popped in hot oil; then drenched with butter and salt.
The bad news is that jumbo- size movie theater popcorn buckets can contain up
to 1,500 calories – split between you and a friend, that’s 750 calories each! The alternative? Order a smaller size – or make
your own at home and skip the excess salt and butter.

Choose
mustard over mayo on your sandwiches and salads. This will save you around
70-75 calories per serving.

Partial to
a few cookies in the afternoon? Try replacing your 3-4 cookies with fruit.
You’ll still satisfy your sugar craving (as well as getting some great fiber,
vitamins and minerals along the way) and cut up to 100 calories.

The 250/250 healthy eating and exercise plan is
straightforward, simple to follow, and offers a real alternative to unhealthy
fad diets that put your health at risk (and may just set you up to gain the
weight back). The secret: start today.
Your waistline and your heart will thank you for it.